Lawmakers working against the clock to write Iraq's new constitution

By Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press, 6/9/2005 19:14

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) They huddle daily in a cavernous auditorium
inside the most heavily fortified area of the capital, sometimes
shouting as they argue about Iraq's new constitution, sometimes
pausing briefly to munch on cookies.

But the breaks are few. Lawmakers drafting the country's new
charter know they are working against the clock.

''Our major challenge is time and we are working day and
night,'' said Mariam Taleb al-Rayes, a Shiite legislator and one of
nine women on the 55-deputy constitutional committee.

''It's all down to time,'' she repeated between sips of an
orange soda and bites of a cookie.

Iraq's 275-seat parliament has until mid-August to adopt a new
constitution that hasn't yet been written and is expected to tackle
the tough issues of the role of Islam in public life and the type
of electoral system Iraq should have.

The document will face a nationwide vote among Iraq's fractious
voters two months later. If adopted, it will provide the basis for
a new election to be held by December.

The committee members meet in a second-story room behind dusty
windows taped with a plastic coating to prevent the glass from
shattering in case of explosions. The building is inside the Green
Zone, a large swath of Baghdad where parliament, the U.S. Embassy
and Iraq's government offices are located.

Those efforts were boosted Thursday when President Jalal
Talabani averted a crisis by promising Sunni Arabs a big say in
drafting the constitution.

The disaffected Sunnis who largely stayed away from the Jan.
30 parliamentary elections had threatened to boycott the
constitutional process as well unless they were given more
committee seats and their members were allowed to vote.

''We have decided to add about 20 to 25 members from Sunnis in
the committee, which will draft the constitution with full rights
like other members who were elected by the parliament,'' Talabani
said after meeting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Talabani, a Sunni Kurd, said the details were being finalized,
but ''this will be done very soon.''

The lawmakers wrangle over sensitive charter details as they try
to ignore assassination attempts, death threats and suicide
attacks. Just this week, gunmen killed two bodyguards of an
official who is a committee member.

The latest move to lure the reluctant Sunni Arab minority into
the political process came amid reports that the Iraqi government
and U.S. Embassy were engaged in backchannel negotiations to get
the Sunni-dominated insurgents involved in the political process.

At the same time, the government has undercut ties with the
Sunni minority by supporting the Badr Brigade militia of the
Shiites and the pesh merga of the Kurds. Talabani praised the
militia as being the ''heroes of liberating Iraq'' in remarks
Wednesday at a public ceremony.

The infighting over Sunni Arab participation has exposed the
depth and danger of Iraq's sectarian politics. With government and
parliament dominated by Shiites and Kurds two communities that
make up nearly 80 percent of Iraq's 26 million people but had long
been oppressed the Sunni Arabs have grown more embittered.

Straw said he was confident Iraq would prove its detractors
wrong.

''Many, many people said there was no chance of meeting a Jan.
30 deadline for elections, no possibility that the elections could
take place in a free way. They were wrong on both counts,'' Straw
said after meeting Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

''I have every confidence that you will be able to meet those
deadlines, the constitution will be delivered on time, there will
be a referendum, and the elections will take place in December,''
he said.

Straw and three other senior European Union officials were on a
historic visit to Baghdad, the EU's first since the U.S.-led
invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's regime two years ago.

The trip came ahead of a June 22 international conference on
Iraq to be held in Brussels, Belgium. More than 80 countries and
international organizations are invited to the one-day session.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also is expected to attend.

The EU visit came on a relatively peaceful day around Iraq that
saw little of the violence that has left nearly 900 people dead
since al-Jaafari's government took office in late April.

If Talabani's pledge is accepted by legislators, the Sunni Arabs
will join the Shiite-dominated committee in a parallel body that
would make decisions by consensus and refer them to the 55
legislators for approval. They then will go to the parliament.